Wrapping up

Sorry about the lack of updates in the past month. I am so happy to say that we are finally done with our bathrooms! Here are some pics of the final stage of construction and of course the finished products. I promise there will be a real blog post soon.

Construction on the base of a bathroom.

More installation of pipes

One of the girls who will have a new bathroom in her home.

The first family to finish construction!

Making progress

After many months of planning, we have finally begun to build! On January 12th, my counterparts and I borrowed the municipality's truck to pick up our materials and move them up the mountain. It was a rough day, and for me it ended at the doctor's getting shots of anesthesia to remove a toothpick-sized splinter from my hand, but we eventually made it safely home with our load of materials.

Loading materials in Caraz. If only that back door had opened...

Our storage room full of cement, pipes, and wood.

The next day we had our first training session with Eliseo, the plumber, to teach each family how to install their pipes. Some families are still choosing to pay the "maestro" to do it for them, which was not part of the original plan, but in the end I am glad as it will generate some income for Eliseo, who has helped me incalculably with this project. While the men paid close attention to the training, the women prepared a huge lunch of pasta and (surprise!) potatoes, and after lunch each family departed with cement and pipes. Of the 20 participating families, only one family dropped out of the project. All of the remaining 19 families met the requirements and I was pleased to be able to give each and every family

Breaking ground at the training. Note that I am only pretending to be helping. After the embarrassing splinter incident the night before, it was decided that the 'senorita' should leave the real work to the farmers.

Reviewing the instructions as we go.

One of the ladies presides over massive pasta pots.

Explaining how the pipe layout works to prevent undesirable odors.

As much of the group as we could get in one place at one time.

So now each family is on their own until Feb 3rd to finish installation, although I plan to start pestering them a week before that. On that date we will have the second training session where each family will learn how to put together the exterior of the bathroom. Everyone who has successfully installed their pipes and cement floor will receive wood and aluminum siding after the session. Of the 20 participating families, only one family dropped out of the project early on. All of the remaining 19 families have met the requirements to date, and I was thrilled to be able to give each and every family the first half of their materials. I am very hopeful that with a bit of gentle pressure, and the reward of an electric shower for the best bathroom completed on time, all of the families will at least come close to meeting our project deadline at the end of February.

Happy belated holidays to everyone! This year the Schwartz-McDermott family decided to skip the snow and spend Christmas in the sand on the coast of Peru. We started off with a visit to my home town in the Andes, where we were invited to a lunch of guinea pig and played some tag with my small neighborhood friends. Then we headed south to the National Reserve of Paracas and the spectacular dunes of Ica, where we spent Christmas day flying down mountains of sand on snowboards, starting a new family tradition of X-treme sports. Other highlights were visits to two glacial lakes in the Andes, and taking a tour of the wineries in Ica and seeing dad forced to take shots of the traditional Peruvian Pisco prepared by hand (and foot) and aged in clay casks.

Sean meets some of my friends. They may be small, but there are a lot of them.

Dad tries to stay focused during a tour of the oldest winery in Ica (after his 7th shot of pisco)

The trip was also memorable for some of the most spectacular come-from-behind victories in the history of the game of Hand and Foot, a card game that has pitted father and daughter against mother and son for almost 10 years. My host family will also never forget how my dad explained why they arrived late for lunch one day. What Brian meant to say was that there was a giant truck, or camion, blocking the road. What he actually said was that there was a giant camaron in the road, which would look something like this:

But now it's back to work in 2010. January is shaping up to be a busy month- we are getting ready to start construction with my bathrooms project, and I have been kept on my toes trying to get all the details in order. This week, we have our first training session to learn how to install the tubes and cement floors for the bathrooms, and then each family will begin construction on their own bathroom. I'll probably be pulling my hair out for the next few weeks as there are endless details to keep track of, but I know that the project will be just as rewarding for me as it is for the 20 families who will have a bathroom for the first time. Much of the work we do as volunteers involves slow change and awareness-raising, and does not have such immediately tangible results, which can be discouraging at times. Fortunately I have lots of things to look forward to this year - finishing my bathrooms, hiking, camping, visitors from the States, trying out my new rock-climbing shoes, and soon enough I'll be planning my return home! Not that I'm excited about that or anything...

2010 has brought a new addition to my Peruvian family: a kitten that we call Chicken and who likes to shred my socks and pounce on my face while I'm trying to do yoga.

Oh wow, it's been a month already...

Sorry to leave you all hanging for so long. It's been a busy month here in Ancash and there has been little time for blogging. We played host to 40 trainees from Lima who came to do field-based training in Ancash at the end of October, and then on top of that had to focus on getting our costumes together for a legendary halloween party. Yes, we still have some fun in the Peace Corps.

As far as my work goes, I've been working hard to get my eco-club off the ground. We meet twice a week to talk about environmental themes, do art projects, and play games. The kids love it, but the problem has been coordinating with the school about using a classroom. They can't seem to wrap their minds around the concept of every Monday and every Wednesday. We're working on it, but for now it means that class is usually outside, often in the rain, and is open to invasion by toddlers, dogs, and chickens. Minor complications in the grand scheme of things, although it does get a bit dangerous for everyone when you throw a chicken and a bull into a game of freeze tag.

The Eco-kids holding trees we planted for "el dia del arbol" on Nov. 5

The bathrooms project continues to advance. We are finished with our fundraising, so thank you all for your generous donations! We hope to purchase our materials before the holidays, and move into the construction phase at the beginning of the new year.

Mostly though I am looking forward to having a nice break for the holidays. Only two more weeks until Seany arrives, and my folks are coming a few days later. After a full year in the mountains, I can't wait to see my family and spend a few days on the beach to get rested and rejuvenated for the year ahead.

A happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This year I am grateful to James Tvrdy's grandmother for sending us stuffing mix. Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it!

Bathrooms Update

We're rolling right along with our bathrooms project. Friday we had a session with the health post about hand-washing and household hygiene, and Saturday morning we held a town clean-up with the twenty participants of the project. Here are a few pictures to introduce you to our project!




Thank you to everyone who has already donated to our project. We are already half way to our goal!

Bathrooms!

Hi everyone! I am back in Peru after a lovely ten day vacation in Boston. It was wonderful to speak english, ride the T, eat pizza and bagels, watch the Twins make an amazing comeback (and then flop in the playoffs), and of course to catch up with so many of my friends. I only wish it could have lasted a bit longer. But here in Peru there is business to be taken care of, and I am hitting the ground running with a new project that I am VERY excited about. Please take a moment to read about our project, because we can't do it without your help.

Through conversations with my community partners, we have decided that one of the most pressing health hazards in our town is the lack of bathrooms. Surveys have shown that approximately 70% of households in town have no form of bathroom whatsoever, and that families must take care of their necessities "al aire libre," as we say here- "in the open air." This leads to contamination of public spaces, waterways, and the fields where families grow their food. Needless to say, this human waste contamination is one of the primary causes of diarrhea and intestinal infections, especially among children. Unfortunately, many families lack the financial resources to construct bathrooms in their homes.

In order to combat the health hazards associated with human waste contamination, we have decided to initiate a project to construct bathrooms and promote hygienic practices. Through our project, 20 participating families will attend workshops to learn about the health hazards associated with poor sanitation and about how they can improve hygiene within their own homes. Families will also participate in two clean-ups to help reduce existing contamination in town, and the male participants will attend technical trainings to learn how to install pipes, cement floors, and construct modules for the exteriors of their bathrooms. Each family that completes these requirements will then receive materials, including pipes, cement, wood, and aluminum siding, to complete construction of a bathroom within their own home.

We need your help to make this project possible! Through the Peace Corps Partnership Program we are hoping to raise $2,800 dollars to purchase all the necessary materials to construct 20 bathrooms. If you are interested in making a donation, please visit the link below:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=527-010

All donations go directly towards my project, and every little bit helps. A donation of just $20 provides the floor of a bathroom, so please take a moment to check it out!

1 year down, 1 year to go

Peace Corps life is like a bowl of tomato soup- a bowl of soup that you tried to cook from scratch using two separate recipes and without all the right ingredients, in the dark, over a flaming pile of firewood, and without the blender that both recipes mandated. In other words, it's not quite as smooth as you'd like it to be. But you learn to lower your standards and enjoy it anyway.

This week I decided that after nine months, it was about time I made a legitimate effort to get my ecoclub started with the school kids. I talked to the school director, who made an announcement in front of the entire school, but neglected to tell me that Wednesday, the day of the first meeting, the entire school was going to the next town over for a fiesta. So at 3PM I went out to wait in the plaza with my book, pretty certain that no one would show up, but around 3:30 a couple of kids appeared in the plaza and came to hover around my bench. Not daring to believe it, I tried to sound totally casual as I asked, "Sooo... what are you guys here for?" They looked at me as if I were a total idiot. Um, duh, that thing you told us about? So against ALL odds, the ecoclub meeting actually happened, and I held their attention for at least 20 minutes before the boys decided that the hot potato circle was really better as a wrestling ring.

Some of my girls on a visit to the nearby pre-Incan ruins

Work at the recycling center has taken a turn away from my interests. After bringing one of the workers to a workshop in Chiclayo about planting Tara trees, we were both totally stoked to plant some native species. When we got back, however, we found out that the mayor had sudden plans to plant 20,000 invasive, nutrient-sucking Eucalyptus trees. So I watched with growing despair as the little black bags full of dirt multiplied over and over to fill every empty space in the tree nursery. It's taken me 9 months to plant 200 trees because no one sees the importance of planting native species, but with one word from the mayor 20,000 seeds are planted practically overnight. It's amazing how quickly things can get done, and makes it all the more frustrating to see my own projects develop so slowly.

Even with the little stuff, you can't count on things to go the way you expect. For example, I wanted to do laundry yesterday, but it's kind of tough when there's a 200lb dead pig on top of the sink. Turns out yesterday was pig-slaughtering day. Fortunately when it comes to killing and cooking a pig, I am only slightly more useful than the 4-year-old, so I mostly got to watch and shell peas and I was TOTALLY ok with that. Anyway, that's why I'm wearing a dirty t-shirt. I swear it's not my fault.

My host dad with the pig.

In other news, the trip to Cusco with my parents was amazing. If you want all the details, don't be afraid to ask them. They seem to love talking about it. For me, the best part was when they came to visit me at my home. The host fam got a kick out of my dad's moustache, especially when it turned orange while eating guinea pig. My sisters still giggle about it. So thanks for the laughs, pops.

Gringos in the kitchen

Now I'm off to dinner with my friends to celebrate the our 1-year-in-country anniversary. One year ago today, I was having a heart attack in Washington DC wondering if I was somehow deranged for actually choosing to move to Peru. Now I know that yes, indeed, I am a little crazy. But I'm ok with that too. Hasta la proxima...

Me and host sister Mayeli